1Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary knob operator control apparatus, in particular for an electrical domestic appliance. The invention also relates to a domestic appliance having at least one rotary knob operator control apparatus.
In electrical domestic appliances such as cooktops, ovens, washing machines, dishwashers and the like, it is desirable to construct the operator control panel to be as closed as possible, that is to say without through-holes and the like. Therefore, touch-sensitive or proximity-sensitive operator control elements, which are provided with an optical, inductive, capacitive or magnetic sensor configuration, are often used instead of pushbuttons and push-switches.
Rotary knobs previously exhibited an operator control element which was rotatably mounted on a switch shaft, wherein the switch shaft was routed through a through-hole in the operator control panel. In order to be able to retain a closed operator control panel even when using rotary knobs, German Patent Application DE 102 18 294 A1, German Patent DE 10 2004 013 947 B3 and European Patent EP 0 797 227 B1 disclose operator control elements which are magnetically held on the operator control panel. The rotary position or rotary movement of the operator control elements is detected by optically, inductively, capacitively or magnetically detecting sensor configurations in those cases. European Patent EP 1 045 300 B1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,906, discloses a rotary knob operator control apparatus in which the operator control element is plug-mounted onto a plastic support which is adhesively bonded onto the closed operator control panel.